The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for distribution of movies to a customer's home, and more particularly to an electronic system whereby movies may be selected from a central library, from a customer's home and supplied electronically to that home for subsequent viewing at a time determined by the customer, on that customer's television set.
At the present time, commercial movies selected by a customer for home viewing are conventionally provided on cassette tapes in electromagnetic form. These tapes are often rented for a short period of time by the customer at a video cassette shop, taken to the customer's home and played there on a video cassette player electronically connected to the customer's television. This method of delivery of movies to a customer's home requires the customer to have a video cassette player and requires the customer actually to go to a video cassette rental shop to select the movie to be played.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system which will avoid the need for a customer to leave home to select a movie, and as well avoid the need for a video cassette player at the customer's home to enable the viewing of a selected movie. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus to electronically distribute movies selected by a customer to the customer's home from a central location.